Rhys Webb has said he will not be withdrawing from his decision to join Toulon next season, meaning Wales will not be picking him. That has produced plenty of debate, but Geraint Powell argues the outpouring of anger only serves to show how divided the country has become between those who support only Wales and those who care for the regions.

 

Whilst it is a matter of personal sadness for me – someone who has been called an “arch-regionalist” or more accurately an “arch-aligner” enough times on social media – few will have been surprised by some of the negative reaction against the revised criteria to the Welsh Rugby Union’s Senior Player Selection Policy (the “WRU SPSP”, the so-called, but terribly misnamed, “Gatland’s Law”).

There is a brutal truth revealed by the reaction to this policy revision, perhaps fuelled by Rhys Webb being caught through his vague and most definitely in need of clarification agreement with Toulon, that many rugby fans in Wales care passionately about the Welsh national team and care very little for their professional region or any others.

We are now a hopelessly divided rugby nation, and certain regional entities and certain individuals at them need to take a long hard look in the mirror.

Plenty clearly oppose any player restrictions, with the particularly prevalent argument that it is not the fault of the players that the professional regional game in Welsh rugby has never got its act together.

We are adding raw emotions to the inherent commercial risk of doing anything potentially harmful to the national team that is the “financial engine” of Welsh rugby and which either pays for or helps subsidise everything else below it.

This is sadly hardly surprising, especially given the aggravating outright disenfranchisement of North Wales in 2003 and the gradual alienation of the South Wales valleys.  And without the critical rugby mass for regional rugby to become a “more than just rugby” entertainment event, other than perhaps Judgement Day in recent years, the eventers migrated almost exclusively towards a national team fuelled by the 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2013 Six Nations successes.

Yet the policy decision to amend the WRU SPSP criteria is actually both logical and measured.  It is a proportionate response, to protect legitimate interests and to achieve desirable aims.

Chief executive Martyn Phillips doesn’t really “do” panic, does he?  He seldom appears rattled, whether he is positively moving something forwards, intervening as a damage limitation exercise, or undertaking an outright rescue operation such as with the otherwise imploding Newport RFC group of companies.

In essence, the policy is this: force the best players to play in Wales until 60 caps, in return for Welsh rugby’s investment in them since they were small boys, if they want the ultimate buzz of Test match rugby in front of 50-80,000 crowds and watched by TV audiences in the millions.  Create a well-remunerated legacy of the adoration of the Welsh rugby public, thereby opening post-career employment doors for them.

Then, concentrate the current £4.2 million pot of dual central contract (so-called “National Dual Contracts”) money on retaining players beyond 60 caps, and then build a later career welfare-based player contract product with heavy emphasis on carefully prolonging, bespoke conditioning, maybe with potential sabbaticals, and complete with early post-retirement employment planning and insurance policies against the financial risk of enforced early retirement.

This new Australian-type model is not an end destination, just as it is not an end destination in Australia itself, and just as the original 2014 WRU SPSP criteria that temporarily stabilised the situation was not an end destination, but it is one more step in the right direction.

An amendment had to happen, for more and more players have recently been slipping into exile and the permitted “wild card” selections fall to two in 2019-20 and just as we arrive at the next World Cup.

But, if you are not a fan of any of the professional regions, the impact can look frighteningly immediate and negative upon the Welsh national team.

Unless he extricates himself from his Toulon “agreement”,  Webb will be unavailable after this season.  Ross Moriarty will join him in being unavailable for selection, unless he joins the Scarlets or the Dragons next season.

So will Dan Biggar, if he suffers an injury this season and fails to reach 60 caps before joining Northampton (although exceptional circumstances may be agreed in that scenario given both his very close proximity to 60 caps and his Ospreys long service record).

As with all deterrents, from submarine-launched nuclear ballistic missiles to “play in country to play for country” rugby rules, the test will be whether it actually deters.  But with every stick, you also need a carrot.  That should be the next stage, a more strategically aligned player contract market.

There are so many potential long-term benefits, for other small rugby countries have thrived on the basis of a strong domestic regional or provincial rugby supply chain.

Notably, New Zealand and Ireland have, albeit that critically they both have central strategic control of the player contracts and can efficiently centrally manage that overall market to sensibly balance competing interests.

It is about achieving the optimal salary balance between the needs of the All Blacks “financial” engine, the five Super Rugby regional franchises, and the 26 historic rugby provinces.  Then, it’s a matter of achieving the right strategic balance across the wage structure between critical All Blacks, regular All Blacks, emerging All Blacks, potential All Blacks and solid regional franchise level players.

With the best Welsh players at the regions, the regions will be far more likely to be successful and then to attract more central and decentralised revenues, which can be re-invested in the businesses and generate more success, which generates more revenues – a so-called “virtuous circle”.

Obviously, the regional game will ultimately have to resolve past self-inflicted wounds such as geographical duplication, northern exclusion and very low lying affinity caps in alienated rugby areas.

The stronger the Welsh regions, the smaller will be the tactical game management, skills, physical and aerobic step-up in standard to Test level for their best players.

The national coach will have greater access to domestic players, with greater control over their preparation and conditioning.  And domestic players are not released, unlike flogged exiled players, to foreign clubs for injury risk league matches between Test matches during Regulation 9 Test window release periods.

So there are plenty of positives, even for those Welsh fans indifferent or downright hostile towards the uniquely Welsh half-hearted 2003 version of regional rugby.

But there is a quid pro quo, not least because the regions themselves cannot afford to be additionally blamed for any decline in the national team, if “the financial engine” of Welsh rugby is to be placed in the firing line through the head coach being unable to pick his best team under an inflexible “play in Wales to play for Wales” policy until players have accumulated 60 caps.

The negative financial impact of any national team playing decline, with a consequential negative financial impact, would be felt across the entire WRU pyramid.  Welsh rugby will sink or swim together, hence why the regions must be firmly within the WRU pyramid in their allotted position.

With the Dragons already under WRU salvage, the other three regions must now step up to the plate.  Not one of them is in a good place in terms of both playing and financial strength.  The two so-called “standalones”, inevitably, are the biggest financial worry and continuing to operate at unsustainable levels of financial loss.

More centralised funding will be required, including cross-subsidy from Test rugby, and that will have implications for central oversight over devolved structures.  That is the way of the world, not just the way business operates.  With greater funding comes greater power.

I am sure that Phillips will make the same points, albeit perhaps with greater tact than I can manage, after 14 years of this nonsense.

Looking ahead there needs to be a far more integrated and aligned regional model, to maximise both income and also efficiency of expenditure, and not four very different random businesses trading as “regional rugby”.

Designated regional organisations should resemble each other, if there is to be one contract with the four regions rather than one bespoke contract with each region.